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I must admit, this was cool. I'd like to see more of Richie, actually. He's a really under-rated character. Butch and Cassidy's disguises were ridiculous, as usual (I laughed through most of the epi), and kidnapping Oak was a pretty good idea by Team Rocket standards. =P As for I Wouldn't Eat That If I Were You... LOL!

I thought it was interesting how Professor Oak got kidnapped. It surprised me that Ritchie showed up and that him and Tracey were able to get to the TV Station so quickly. Ritchie really did a good job in finding out the mystery of who kidnapped Professor Oak. It didn't surprise me that Team Rocket was behind it. It was interesting to learn somewhat about the Pokerus. I laughed when Butch and Cassidy threatened Professor Oak with the nail and glass. Luckily Ritchie, Tracey, Mary, and Officer Jenny got there in time to rescue Professor Oak. I thought it was funny when Professor Oak's hair caught on fire and he ran into the wall.

I <3 May.

I do not do competitive battling and I really do not have any desire to. I also do not go out of my way seeking for shinies because I never really understood why they were so great anyways. All I truely enjoy pokemon contests, breeding, and in-game battling.

I think grass pokemon are the greatest ever and I take great pride in the ones I have raised. I also think that Chikorita is the most adorable pokemon ever!

Not too bad, Cassidy and Butch did almost get away with kidnapping Oak though, interesting enough. How did the guard not realize two people walk out and do nothing? If two people walked out when only one walked in they should have realized something was up.

Of course Ritchie has a Talliow, they wouldn't be alike if Ash and Ritchie didn't have the same Pokemon or the previous/evolved form (Like Charmeleon/Pupitar). Good that Oak came back, also sounds like he was getting tortured with that thing Cassidy was pressing whatever it is lol.

Claims Amber Benson as Bishie
United we stand but separated we fall
As of April 18th, 2015, I met, hugged, took a selfie and a video with Amber Benson. This signature stands to the days where I wished for it, and that dream became reality.

This episode was ok... The "George of the Jungle" line - "watch out for that 'wall'" was hilarious! It was cool to see Richie's new Pokemon Tailow. It's always funny when they say Butch's name wrong. Sableye and Mightyena are very strong, and were raised very well. Zippo's Fire Spin attack was very cool and strong. They must really like Nidoqueen since they used that disguise again.

For the people who said that Tracey didn't get any specials or screentime, need to go back and watch each and ever one of these episodes. Count how many times Tracey had showed up and count how many Misty did with these specials and you will find out that Tracey got a bit more.

I watched this episode right after a newer one (BW). Although the difference in animation quality surprised me a little (I knew it'd be different, just not that different), I’m surprised by how the show has maintained more or less the same charm.

Let’s see... I got a grin out of Oak saying that he would be “braving the cafeteria”: that’s a good way to put it. Some cafeterias are dangerous territory. I also liked the phrase “as smooth as a Squirtle’s underbelly.” The Funniest Pokémon Home Videos line was a nice parody.

The security guards were pretty stupid, but at least they have smart ten-year-olds on hand. And Bob, err, I mean Butch, sure has the science thing down-pat: use big words, and you’ll be fine. (I guess he thinks impasse is a big word.) He and Cassidy sure knew how to torture too. I usually think of nails on a chalkboard, but I guess glass would work too. I also like how the episode mentioned Pokérus: I myself just learned about that a few months ago. >_> I’m glad we got to see Zippo again. Ritchie sure is lucky: his Charmeleon didn’t turn into an egoistic ingrate. And it was nice to see Butch and Cassidy be the ones blasting off again.

Oh, I was kinda confused when Ritchie and Tracey mentioned that they were going to be on a TV show. That came out of nowhere. Still, this was a fun episode.

(Oh, by the way, Ritchie's name is spelled wrong in the Serebii description of the episode.)

Hiroshi is totally playing Conan the Detective in this episode (both having the same VA). Being a fan of both Pokemon and Detective Conan, this is like Christmas for me. Thank God I get to watch the subbed version on Chinese streaming sites.

Anyway, this is a really fun episode, especially if you recognize the aforementioned Easter Egg. The fact that both Yamato and Kosaburou are mid-tier villains unlike Musashi and Kojirou really raises the intense level as we watch our favorite detec- I mean trainer go against the bad guys. It's definitely great to see Hiroshi again. This episode was released right after Advanced Gen. episode 19, so I watched it as such (currently catching up with the older seasons).

The world of Pokémon is vast enough that there are still mysteries to be solved. While in the meta-verse fans can come up with theories and explanations as to how such-and-such can work, or even figure it out on our own with mathematical equations (don't ask me, I'm not a math wizard), characters in the Pokémon world haven't. I have no problems with characters not knowing things, that's to be expected because the less that's answered in fiction, the more fun it is for fans to find an answer. Even the smartest character in Pokémon will still find an excuse find something they know little to nothing about.

This episode plot came to being all based on a single motivation: figuring out about Pokérus. At the time, Pokérus wasn't as well-known as it is now. I was pretty sure the number was different in the Gen II games, but Bulbapedia says that in the games the chances of getting Pokérus was 1 in 21,845 when battling a wild Pokémon, or even through breeding. I've never once found it in any of my games, so all I know from it is that it's beneficial because it doubles effort values, though I think this is permanent even after they're cured.

Sorry, got off track. I think it's a good idea that there's an episode revolving around the idea of Pokérus, but they don't really touch upon it. What little is known about it should have been talked about by Dr. Namba, a character I actually had forgotten about until now, but not even he really explained it. Professor Oak might've only heard about it, but if he didn't know any more than Namba did, he could've just said so. But I guess Team Rocket is just that stubborn that they don't care he doesn't know about Pokérus, he knows about other things Pokémon-related. Considering that the original motivation for the kidnapping pretty much fell flat, they could've moved on to other things and thus attempt to get more information out of him. But as it appears Oak is choosing to do more research on it off-screen, this is probably proof that hopefully we'll get more episodes of Pokérus in the future, at least here in Chronicles.

Yes, Bulbapedia? What do you mean we don't get any more mentions of Pokérus? Son of a...

While it's nice to see Butch and Cassidy again, they were too goofy in this episode. At least in "Showdown at the Oak Corral", they only had a few moments of being goofs. While the stuffed Nidoqueen is a nice callback to that episode, most likely proving that this series of side stories apparently are in continuity with each other, those disguises are really the only thing that stayed true to their character. The only cruel thing they did was torture Oak with glass and a nail, which is as kid-friendly as can be (though honestly, I can see Team Rocket doing something as simply petty as nails of glass), and so I'm a bit disappointed. It also doesn't make sense that they would've goofed up so much that Dr. Namba yelled at them about it. I do remember he was the mastermind behind the Lugia episodes, but I don't think he was as dumb then like he was here.

Also, the numerous flashbacks in this episode was a messy way to tell the backstory behind the kidnapping. You know, wasn't this episode supposed to have been a "kidnapping mystery"? When I heard the title "OakNapped!" I expected to see an imposter Oak in his place. Because wouldn't that have made for a better plot? But unfortunately, Imposter Oak exists only for the trading card game, even though the closest we ever got was in "Will the Real Oak Please Stand Up?".

Oh, and how would Oak not know how renowned he is? The fact he got himself a talk show is proof that people know who he is. I guess he finds it flattering to be labeled as such, but doesn't want to make it sound like he has a big head. But I guess it's a little funny how Butch was ordered to "use lots of big words" to sound convincing, and thus the only complicated vocab word he can come up with is "renowned". Then again, they didn't use "big words" either way, so...

...4KIDS did write the scripts for this dub, right? This doesn't feel like 4KIDS' writing the more I think about it. I do know around this time they were losing the rights to Pokémon, but this is still the 4KIDS cast, so I'm a bit confused that the dub quality has a notable drop.

Oh, right, there was more to this episode than just Pokérus and Oak getting kidnapped. After all, someone had to have solved his kidnapping.

I'll be honest in that I'm not a fan of Ritchie. Obvious Ash clone aside, he's just... bland, maybe even too perfect. Okay, so he lost his match directly after Ash in the Pokémon League, proof that he doesn't win everything. But he's still too perfect, almost a know-it-all who shares Ash's desire to become the very best. Fine, I guess he's not a know-it-all as he can't make up his mind as to how to evolve his Eevee that we never see (because he apparently doesn't have one, damn it, why's the dub making things up?), but whatever.

I think what bothers me the most about him here is just how quick he is to solve everything that the professionals couldn't. Yes, I'm well aware that Ash and the others are like this, too, in being able to solve these kinds of mysteries without much thought, but with Ritchie's personality as it is, it's more contrived than anything else. It almost was like the writers needed a character for this episode, but they didn't want Tracey to have his turn in the spotlight by helping solve the disappearance of Oak. They also didn't want to bring Gary over, so let's just go with Ritchie, because he'll be the closest thing to Ash we'll ever get in this series.

He's also the closest thing we'll ever get to an Imposter Ash Ketchum.

So dub-writing aside, the way the episode was presented in terms of pacing and narrative was choppy and one of missed opportunity. It's fine to have Professor Oak be a target of an evil organization who wants his research for their own evil plans. But is it really necessary to have an entire scene of nothing but characters standing around musing over how someone could disappear without a trace, and just have a kid solve everything just by asking questions? Then there's all of those flashbacks spread out as such that could've just been kept whole as a way to explain how it all worked out. That time could've been used to show off an imposter, even if it was just for a single scene. Because while I have no problems in the fact that Pokérus more-or-less was just glossed over along with a possible evil plan Team Rocket has in the works, half of the episode was just padding, and a possible detective episode was ruined by poor execution.

And let's be honest: was Ritchie really needed at all for this episode when all he did was play forensics in lieu of professionals and solve how Professor Oak was kidnapped? And further prove he's an Ash clone by owning a Taillow?